Two healthcare teams in NHS Forth Valley have received national awards in recognition of the outstanding care and support they provide to local patients and families across Forth Valley.

Ward 4 at Forth Valley Royal Hospital was named the winner of the Top Team Award at the 2023 Scottish Health Awards. The Team was praised for their work with dementia patients who require high levels of care as this requires exceptional levels of complexity and skills to manage both physical and mental health conditions simultaneously. Staff strive to improve patients’ quality of life and are working to achieve even bigger goals by transforming the ward to better benefit patients.

NHS Forth Valley Audiology Team at the British Academy of Audiology (BAA)

NHS Forth Valley’s Audiology Team also won the award category of the British Academy of Audiology (BAA) – Audiology Team of the Year Award which was presented to staff at the BAA Annual Conference 2023. The prestigious prize is awarded to a team that has worked together to improve the quality of audiology services in their area, showing innovative and original ideas. In NHS Forth Valley, a wide range of work has been taken forward to reduce waiting times, improve communication across services and support local patients and their families. This has included the development of Advanced Audiology roles to help reduce ENT waiting times, the introduction of dedicated continual professional development sessions and additional training support for staff to enable them to take on new roles and responsibilities. Several members of the team are also undertaking additional advanced professional qualifications and leadership programmes to further enhance their skills and experience.

Stephanie Doody-Orr, NHS Forth Valley’s Audiology Services Manager, said: “We were delighted to receive this award which recognises the wide range of work being taken forward in NHS Forth Valley to reduce waiting times, improve communication across services and support local patients and their families.

“I am very proud of the team who worked tirelessly to keep audiology services running throughout the pandemic and have continued to drive forward a wide range of service developments and improvements.”

Dr Mark Harrison, Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist at Forth Valley Royal Hospital, who nominated Ward 4 for the Top Team award, said: “Huge congratulations to my nursing colleagues on Ward 4. This award was thoroughly deserved as caring for those with challenging behaviours in advanced dementia is one of the most demanding jobs I can imagine. I am so glad that the skills, dedication, caring and professionalism of the local staff in Ward 4 has been recognised at a national level.”

Additional Information

The annual Scottish Health Awards celebrate the NHS staff, support workers, volunteers and specialist teams who go above and beyond to provide exceptional care and support to patients and their families.

The BAA Team of the Year Award was created in 2004 to celebrate the coming together of the different professions within Audiology. The award is presented at the annual British Academy of Audiology Annual Conference to acknowledge those individuals and teams who have excelled, or shown exceptional commitment to the audiology profession, over the past year.